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LAND CULTIVATION APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FlLEDSE ET- l. I918.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

4. SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. F. COOKE.

LAND CULTIVATION APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4. 191a.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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x m W 6. F. COOKE.

mm CULTIVATION APPARATUS.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 4. 19m.

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'as capstan heads for r caro GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

LAND-CULTIVATION APPARATUS.

Application filed September 4, 1918.

To all whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnoncn FREDERICK CooKE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 2 Fairfax road, Bedford Park, London, England, have invented a new and useful Improved Land-Cultivation Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved system for operating tilling and other agricultural implements by mechanical power, the invention being especially applicable for cultivating large areas devoid of hedges, ditches and other obstructions.

According to my invention I dispense with the use of mechanical tractors or engines designed to run upon the soil, or upon a temporary track laid thereon, and employ elevated rail tracks permanently erected parallel to one another on opposite sides of the area to be cultivated and each designed to carry a traveling motor for operating a wire rope or cable for hauling the implements. These motors are each provided with a winding drum, but instead of such drums being each provided with an independent rope as is now the usual custom I make use of a single rope which is of slightly greater length than twice the distance between the elevated tracks, the two ends of the said rope being connected to the implement to be operated, while the rope itself is coiled, say, two and a half times around the winding drum of each motor, the said winding drums acting in the same way causing the travel of the rope.

In carrying out my invention. I advantageously make use of electricityas the motive power.

My invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which V Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the system; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation illustrating the arrangement of the supports of the rail track.

Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of atraveler designed to run upon the track; and

Fig. 4 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan of the lower part of the traveler.

a, a indicate the standards or supports for carrying the elevated track, the said supports being advantageously made of A-shape Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919. Serial No. 252,578.

saddle is rovided with travelin wheels 0 e which run upon the upper rails b, b and with other wheels-f, 7 which run upon the lower rails 0, c.

The traveling wheels 6 may be provided with a central flange which runs in the slot between. the upper rails b, b as shown in Fig. 2 or wheels having flanges on the outer sides, as shown in Fig. 4, can be made use of.

g is the winding drum which is carried on a vertical spindleh fixed in the frame (Z,

the said drum having its winding surface made concave, in the same manner as the surface of a capstan head, so that the rope will always run at or about the center of the drum.

2' is the armature of an electric motor mounted upon the frame, the shaft in of which has upon it, at its lower end, a pinion Z which engages 'with internal gear teeth on the drum This pinion Z is free to revolve on the shaft k when in theposition shown, clutch teeth upon its upper surface being provided to engage with correspond ing clutch teeth upon-or in connection with the shaft is. The movement of the said pinion to cause the ngagement and disengagement of the clutch is effected through themedium of a rod m which passes through the shaft 70, which is made tubular, the said rod being secured to and rotating with the pinion Z and operated by a lever The rod m is connected to the lever by a ball or other joint to allow therotation of the rod. The shaft in also carries a gear wheel 0 which engages with a pinion 0 on a shaft 79, this latter shaft being provided with a worm 39 which engages with a worm-wheel g on the axle of one of the traveling wheels e, Whereby the traveler may be caused to move along the elevated track.

The pinion 0 is connected to its shaft by a feather and is adapted to be raised to move it out of engagement with the gear wheel 0 by means of a lifting plate or fork 9" connected by a rod r to alever W. The levers n and r are placed in a position in which geously apply they can be readily operated by the driver 8 mounted upon the V sitting 'upon a seat frame 02.

t, t are conductor rails which are arranged in the heads of the standards at below the level of the rails 19, b the current being picked up from these conductor rails by brushes on a plow M which projects through the slot between the rails b. M indicates a controller of ordinary construction for controllingthe current to the motor.

Fig. 5 shows a brake which I advantathreads. The other shoe '0 during the a i movement'of the traveler, is slack so that it does not exert any gripping operation and it is; designed to be pressed against the track by means of wedge blocks 00, m mounted on a rod m moved adjacent to the seat 8 of the driver.

*0 indicates implement,- say, a two-way or balance plow, which is to be hauled. i

In preparing the apparatus for use, the rope is connected at oneend to the implement y hen passed two and a half times around the drum of one traveler,'then conveyed to the other traveler and passed two and a half times around the drum of the same,

, and finally connected at the other end tothe implement 1 In order'to provide for regulating th tension of the rope,-bytak1ng up. the slack, a winding drum or winch or other 7 meansare provided upon the implement.

' hauling rope can be With this arrangement it will be vunderstood that during the traverse of the implement the winding drums of both travelers will be in operation. 7

When the apparatus is not in use, the

the drum 9 of one of the travelers. The rope, when required for use, is unwound therefrom by temporarily using, say, a

hempen-rope upon the drum'of the traveler upon which the hauling rope is not wound.

It is to be understood that the apparatus hereinbefore described is only given in connection with the traveler longitudinally by'a lever 00? the hauling rope and y an When the land prov wound or stored upon other suitable form of motor-propelled traveler provided with winding drums as described may be used for the purposes of my invention.

If desired, two implements may be operated at the samevtime, say, for instance, a plow and a harrow, the plow traveling in one direction and the, harrow in the oppog site direction. p I

7 It will be obvious that in very large. areas, for instance, on prairie land, a number of tracks equi-distant from each other can be laid and that after the space between one pair oftracks has been cultivated the traveler on the track most distant from the uncultivated area may be transferred to the track on the far side of the next area to. be cultivated. For this, purpose it will be nec-* essary to connect the extremities of the said tracks in such a manner that the transfer of the travelers can be effected.

A simple arrangement for. this purpose comprises a transverse track connecting the several parallel tracks and provided at each point of junction with a turntablefor allowing of the transfer in the desired manner. Such transverse track could also extend to apowerhouse or a shed in which the travelers would be stored when not required for use;

The tracks and travelers hereinbefore described are-not merely useful for actual cultivation but can beused also for cutting and harvesting the. crops; in the latter case wagons may be placed upon-the tracks, designed to. be hauled along by the travelers to barns or store houses. 1

'led with overhead tracks is to be drained and a suitable outfall is available the rail supports a, a may. be embedded in concrete and a main drain formed in concrete beneath the track, for instance, as illustrated at z in Fig. 2,,transk verse holes 2 beingmade therein. which Claim:

An apparatus for land cultivation com-' prising two permanently fixed elevated rail tracks arranged parallel to one another, a

motor carriage mounted on each of said' tracks, a winding drum carried upon' eachi of said motorcarriages, and a single hauling rope around the drums of both carriages' GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE. q 

